AbrakadabraL Storia dell'avvenire

In the spring of 1860 an enigmatic stranger drifts into the remote Alpine hamlet of C…. He is a thin, gaunt man in his fifties, dressed in a long black overcoat and a blue‑banded turban that gives him the uncanny look of a priest‑like pascià. The villagers soon dub him “the Signor” and whisper that providence has sent him to their mountain air. Though rumors suggest he is a recluse consumed by scholarly obsessions, his warm smile and generous demeanor quickly win the locals’ curiosity.

Each evening the Signor opens his modest home to the town’s priest, mayor and pharmacist, who embody the three enduring poles of human thought—reaction, cautious liberalism and radical progress. Around a massive, richly‑carpeted table they share a bottle of sumptuous Barolo, a liquid that seems to temper their fierce debates and turn argument into a kind of ritualized camaraderie. Through their spirited discussions the novel sketches the tensions that shape a community teetering between tradition and modernity, inviting listeners to contemplate how ideas clash and meld in everyday life.